


sky and earth that otherwise never touch

by lilbabybirdie



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Gen, Zanpakutou
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 18:25:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13576368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilbabybirdie/pseuds/lilbabybirdie
Summary: Ichigo has always been able to see things that no one else could. That didn't change when a shinigami broke into his house. At least the Old Man is always at his side to help him deal with the insane mess his life has become.





	sky and earth that otherwise never touch

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [in awe of that which cannot be seen](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2673386) by [Tatsumaki_sama](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tatsumaki_sama/pseuds/Tatsumaki_sama). 



Ichigo was born into a world filled with love.

_“Ichigo-kun, Ichigo-kun, won’t you open your eyes for Mommy and Daddy?”_

_“There he is! Our special little man.”_

_“Haha, won’t you be a strong man some day! You’re going to do your family proud!”_

_“Come on up honey, say hello to some friends of ours.”_

As the first child, Ichigo’s proud parents doted on him, showering him with affection whenever they had a chance. Though he was a happy, healthy baby, Isshin and Masaki sometimes worried that their combined affection was not enough. They both had to run a clinic together, after all, and couldn’t devote as much time to him as they might have liked. Ichigo would go for long periods with only the baby monitor to keep him company while his parents tended to patients. What if their little boy got lonely?

Little did the Kurosaki parents know, Ichigo was never alone.

In the corner of every room, silhouetted in every window, a long dark man loomed like a shadow. He looked down into the crib or hovered just beyond the playpen, lurked on the edge of the kitchen. Wherever Ichigo went he followed, unfelt and unseen apart from large, child eyes that would occasionally track his movement. As the parents doted and the boy grew, the man remained the same, unnoticed in the corner of each room aside from curious glances the boy sometimes tossed him. But, as with many things, the child took him in stride. The man in the corner, like the warmth of his blanket and the safety of his parents’ embrace, would not change. He was a fact of life.

\--

Starting school was a trial for Ichigo. Though he went to the dojo every week, he still didn’t like being separated from his parents for so long. Especially now that the twins were there. Who was going to watch out for his baby sisters if not him? What were they going to do without their big strong older brother?

Ichigo cried when he was dropped off the first day. Isshin cried too.

But after that first day, it wasn’t so bad. The teachers at school were nice. Some of the kids were too. The lessons were pretty fun most of the time. And every day he got to come home to his parents and his growing baby sisters, who always gurgled and waved their arms like they were happy to see him. It was the highlight of his day.

Plus, school was when he first befriended the Old Man.

Ichigo supposed they’d been friends for a while, since the Old Man was always around, but they’d never interacted before. The Old Man’s presence was a given. So was his silence. Ichigo had paid him the same amount of attention he paid the curtains of his room. But in school, scary, unfamiliar school where the only people Ichigo knew were himself and the dark man a few steps behind him, that presence became a comfort rather than a given. He stuck close to the Old Man, listened for the swish of his coat as they walked down the halls together, breathed a little easier with him around. When Ichigo had his first class on etiquette, he turned to the Old Man, bowed and said in his best formal Japanese, “My name is Kurosaki Ichigo. Who are you?”

The Old Man had smiled, for the first time in Ichigo’s memory, and bowed back. Years later, Ichigo would struggle to remember what he said, or even if he’d said anything at all, but in that moment he’d watched with wide eyes as the Old Man replied, “It’s nice to meet you, Kurosaki Ichigo. My name is ____, but you may call me what you wish.”

\--

Though he treasured this new friendship, Ichigo wasn’t the social sort. He didn’t go out of his way to make new friends. The Old Man, Tatsuki at the dojo, Karin and Yuzu, they were enough of a handful as it was. Plus they weren’t loud or stupid like a lot of his classmates and they never asked about his hair. Was it so hard to believe the orange was natural?

And then there was the other thing… His parents had warned him, before he started school, that not everyone could see the things he could. That talking to ghosts was a rare and wonderful talent, but not one he should show off to people outside their family. And Ichigo tried. But it could be so hard to tell ghosts from normal people! And try as he might, by the end of his first year in school Ichigo had a reputation as a young boy with an overactive imagination among his teachers and a weirdo who talked to himself among his peers.

Well screw them all, Ichigo thought sourly. He gave Yuzu another block, who gurgled happily before chucking it at the wall. He’d rather hang out with his baby sisters then people who called him a liar just because their eyes were worse than his. And he didn’t have to ignore the Old Man either, who was way more awesome than anyone who went to his school. Here he could talk to who ever he wanted.

He handed Yuzu another block. She threw this one straight through the Old Man, who gave them both a long-suffering look.

“Sorry,” Ichigo said.

“It is fine,” said the Old Man. He reached out and gave Yuzu what would have been a fond hair ruffle if he’d actually been corporeal. As it was his hand just kind of passed through the top of her head. “Children will be children. You were little different at this age.”

Ichigo was struck with a sudden embarrassment. He wondered how many blocks he had chucked through the Old Man before he’d learned not to throw them at people. Even one was too many. “Sorry.”

The Old Man shook his head with a small smile, and reached out to ruffle Ichigo’s hair as well. They couldn’t touch, just as with Yuzu, but Ichigo liked to imagine he could feel _something_. A cool, calming presence. A gentle pressure. Or maybe it was just the placebo affect Dad had told him about recently. He knew he was supposed to feel something, so he did.

Karin made a cranky noise on the other side of the room. Yuzu blew spit bubbles at her. Ichigo heaved a sigh. It was a difficult situation, because Karin wanted to nap and Yuzu wanted to play, but neither twin liked being separated for very long. If Karin woke up and Yuzu wasn’t there, she’d throw a fit. Yuzu would be content to play with Ichigo for a while, but soon she’d start looking for her sister and getting increasingly distressed that she couldn’t find her.

“Do you think they’ll learn to be separate soon?” Ichigo asked.

“Do you think they should?” the Old Man said in return.

\--

The Old Man became Ichigo’s best friend and though he knew better to talk about him at school, he didn’t hesitate to at home. Yuzu keeps throwing blocks through the Old Man. The Old Man said the funniest thing in class today. If they could just see the Old Man, then none of the kids at school would tease him. Ichigo wouldn’t realize it until he was much, much older, but all his talk of the dark ominous man that followed him around everywhere made his parents nervous. It all came to head one morning on one of the few days his parents closed down the clinic.

“Ichigo,” his mother said. “Is the Old Man around?”

Ichigo stopped coloring to glance around. “No.”

It wasn’t unusual. He watched over Ichigo most of time, but every few days he’d disappear. Ichigo imagined he had important adult business to attend to somewhere else. No one could be around all the time. The Old Man always came when Ichigo needed him and that was what counted.

His mother let out a breath and gave a strained smile. “Good. Could you let us know if he shows up, sweetie?”

Ichigo nodded. “Do you want to talk to him, Momma?”

Ichigo’s parents couldn’t see spirits the way he could, but they always believed him, unlike pretty much everyone else. They urged Ichigo to tell them if a spirit bothered him too much, and sometimes he did. It was pretty funny to see his mother lecture a ghost into submission, even if she was looking too far to the right to stare it down.

“Maybe later,” Ichigo’s mother said. She was cleaning up the remains of Hurricane Karin, as his father affectionately liked to say. His little sisters always made such a mess when they ate. Ichigo got up earlier just to avoid having food flung on him during breakfast. “Would you put your pencils away, please? We’re going out as soon as your father gets the girls settled.”

Ichigo began obediently gathering up his pencils and papers. It wasn’t going well anyway; he’d been trying to draw a butterfly, but it ended up looking more like a slug with some kind of tumor on its back. Ichigo made a face. Art didn’t seem to be in his skillset.

The doorbell rang and his mother went to go get it. Ichigo wandered into the living room, where his dad was making faces at the girls.

“Where are we going?” Ichigo asked.

His father pulled his eyelids down and stuck his tongue out. Yuzu giggled. Karin started to cry.

“Oh no no no!” Isshin said. “It’s fine, see? Daddy’s fine!”

He let go of his face and waved his hands. When Karin continued to cry, he scooped her up and rocked her, shushing softly.

“Dad, where are we going?” Ichigo said, louder this time.

“Just a sec, Ichi-kun.” His father blew a raspberry in Karin’s baby belly. Slowly, the tears stopped and she started to giggle.

Yuzu looked from her twin to Ichigo before raising her hands entreatingly. “Un!”

Ichigo heaved a sigh before scooping her up and bouncing her, secretly relishing her happy squeals.

Karin finally placated, Isshin set her down and turned to Ichigo.“We’re going to take you to see a special friend of ours today.”

Ichigo blinked up at him in surprise, not sure what to think. Despite being warm, outgoing people, his parents didn’t have many friends. The only ones he could think of were the white haired man and his wife. He hadn’t seen them in a very long time though.

“Dear, the babysitter’s arrived!” his mother called from the other room. “Ichi-kun, come get your coat on. It’s a little chilly out.”

“I think you’ll like him,” his father said, winking. “He lives in a candy shop.”

\--

It was possibly the shadiest candy shop Ichigo had ever seen. Located in a back alley and far away from any other stores, Ichigo wasn’t sure how customers were supposed to find it. The shop owner was weird too. He had bags under his eyes and a five o’clock shadow and looked like the sort of man his mom normally warned him away from, which made it all the more confusing when both of his parents greeted him happily.

“Welcome, Kurosakis~!” said shop owner, waving a fan Ichigo imagined he found in the trash. “Come in, come in, make yourselves at home!”

The inside of the shop was just as barren and deserted as the outside. The candy on display looked suspiciously dusty. There was a large man behind the counter with strange hair and glasses. Were candy store workers even _allowed_ to be that buff?

“Where are the other customers?” Ichigo whispered to his mom. She shushed him.

The shop owner ushered his parents into the backroom to talk while Ichigo waited awkwardly in the shop. It was hard to tell with the glasses, but it felt like the man behind the counter was staring at him. Ichigo shifted uncomfortably, trying to look fascinated by the candy without getting too close. He was leery of getting yelled at. He’d been yelled at for lingering too long in stores before. People said his hair made him look like a delinquent; Ichigo wasn’t even sure what that meant yet, besides that you couldn’t get close to merchandise. Other people just didn’t want a child making a mess in their store. Ichigo thought a candy store would be used to children, but then this one was empty. Maybe children never came here. Maybe the candy store was just a front for something else, like the den of a child-eating monster.

Ichigo shook his head. That was stupid. Monsters weren’t real. It was probably a front for something more logical, like a child slave trade. Was the fan man bargaining for Ichigo right now? No, his mom would never sell him! When Karin and Yuzu were born, she’s promised they’d never replace her special little man. So maybe the shop owner was just a distraction. Ichigo eyed the man behind the counter distrustfully. The Old Man, unnoticed and unobtrusive, had appeared in the corner after his parents left. Ichigo wished more than ever that the Old Man was visible to everyone and not just him. Then maybe his presence would keep the candy store people from trying anything.

Ichigo’s parents came back in along with the shop owner, and Ichigo hid behind his mother.

“Oh sweetie, it’s okay,” his mother said. She and his father tried to coax him out, but Ichigo wouldn’t budge. He would have happily hid there for the rest of the visit, but then the shop owner came forward.

“Ichigo-kun, right?” he said, bending down to Ichigo’s height. The boy glared at him. The shop owner smiled. “Well Ichigo-kun, as you can see we’ve got a wide selection of sweets here, and I’d be willing to give you this one if you answer some questions for us.”

With a flourish, he produced a pink sucker from out of his sleeve. Ichigo had a weakness for chocolate, but at this age anything sweet would do. He edged out from behind his parents and took the sucker ( _strawberry_ ), solemnly agreeing to answer the man’s questions.

They got old fast. _Who is the Old Man?_ The Old Man is the Old Man. _What is the Old Man’s name?_ Ichigo didn’t know. He’d never said. _What does the Old Man look like?_ Tall. Dark. Long hair and a beard and sunglasses. _When did the man first appear?_ Dunno. _What does he want?_ Dunno. _Why does he follow you?_ Dunno, dunno, dunno.

The questions made him fidgety and they just kept coming. So Ichigo did what he always did back then: he cried. The shop owner flailed a little, clearly out of his depth, while Ichigo’s parents tried fruitlessly to sooth him. He only calmed down when a black cat strode up to him and purred with all its might. Upset temporarily forgotten, Ichigo stared with wonder. He’d never seen a cat up close before; all the neighborhood ones were too skittish to come near him. He knelt down and reached out a hand hesitantly. The cat nuzzled it, then climbed right into his lap. Delighted, Ichigo began to pet it, and continued answering the shop man’s questions.

_Does the man talk to you?_ Yes. _What does he say?_ Stuff. _Like what?_ Stuff. (Embarrassing stuff. He encouraged Ichigo when he had trouble in school and comforted him when he cried in the boy’s restroom. He praised Ichigo when he fought Tatsuki at the dojo, even though he lost every time.) _Has the man ever hurt you?_ No. _Do you know when he’ll come by next?_ He’s here right now.

Ichigo’s parents went stiff. The cat stopped purring. The shop owner put a hand on his cane and asked where he was. Ichigo pointed to the corner where the Old Man leaned, watching everything with a blank expression. The shop owner and the mustache man both turned as if they expected to see him. They didn’t; only Ichigo could. Ichigo was sort of relieved about that. The shop owner seemed awfully interested in his friend and Ichigo didn’t want the Old Man being pestered like this.

After a tense moment, everyone relaxed. Ichigo’s dad laughed. The shop owner let out an amused huff as well, leaning back. He took Ichigo’s parents aside again for a whispered conversation in the corner. Ichigo rubbed under the cat’s chin, which got it purring again. Everyone suddenly seemed a lot happier.

“It was nice meeting you, Ichigo-kun.” Ichigo looked up and realized with a start that they were leaving. His parents were putting their coats on and the shop owner was holding out his hand to Ichigo. Ichigo looked down at the cat, who obligingly got off of his lap. He watched it go with some longing, before letting the man help him up. The shop owner smiled. “Maybe we’ll see each other again someday.”

Ichigo hoped not. Though he wouldn’t mind seeing the cat again. He waved to it as his parents ushered him out the door. The cat waved back.

Later that night, Ichigo got sick and threw up his whole dinner. As he sat on the bathroom floor, sweaty and miserable, his dad rubbed soothing circles on his back and his mom yelled on the phone about bad candy. With time, the memory of this experience would fade from a distinct day to a bad dream, to finally a series of impressions that would linger with him long after he’d forgotten where they’d come from. The strongest was this: don’t talk about the Old Man. Just as he’d already learned not to talk about ghosts at school or bullies at home, Ichigo stopped talking about the Old Man to anyone besides his sisters. As they grew older, they followed his lead. The Old Man would remain a secret between the three of them for many years to come.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked this chapter! I might change the summary later, since it's not particularly inspired. I will probably change the tags as well. Something important to note is that the fic this one is inspired by was inspired by cywscross's Sight, so the concept will be similar.


End file.
